[Gocamino] Catholicism not required

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
That fabulous Camino video made by Richard Attenborough "Within the Way Without" follows three pilgrims: an Australian protestant, a Brasilian Catholic (sort-of) and a Japanese Buddhist. The only one who did not receive the Compostela was the Brasilian since she hurt a foot and couldn't walk the last 50 kilometers or so. (Since the video was made she has returned to the Camino, with her husband, and completed it).
I've been on the Camino four times and completed it three. No one asked me whether I was a Catholic neither when I got the pilgrim's credential or when I got the Compostela. The only related question is whether one is making the pilgrimage for solely religious, religious/cultural, or cultural reasons.
I've met English-speaking pilgrims in the hundreds and they have almost always been Protestant, including my own companions twice.
 I completed the Northern Way with a Jewish and a Hindu pilgrim, and we got our Compostelas together.
It seems that the "pietatis causa" requirement refers to a spiritual approach as opposed to a mere tourist one.
I've read a message here that a pilgrim had to tell at the Pilgrims' office that s/he had made the pilgrimage for religious reasons to get the Compostela.  This couldn't be since the question is asked when one gets the credential.
I've spent many a day at the Pilgrims' Office volunteering as a translator and I can assure you that this does not happen.
The pilgrims' data available show that between 5-8% of pilgrims who received the Compostela had declared their purpose for making the pilgrimage to be only cultural.
Perhaps all the misunderstandings come from language difficulties. I don't know.
There is another confusion, perhaps more understandable, about receiving communion at Mass.  In the United States for some reason only Catholics are supposed to receive communion at a Catholic Mass. (My own parish includes this admonition in very, very fine print in the back of the Mass leaflet and I have never ever heard a priest, or anyone, mention it at Mass or elsewhere.)
My sister in Law Liz is an Episcopalian and very active in her church where she "serves" at Mass.  She is more of a Camino enthusiast than I am and it is because of her that I went to the Camino, unwillingly, the first time.  In Spain she is the first on line to receive communion. Someone told hetr that as a non-Catholic she wasn't supposed to do so. Because she became concerned, I asked a priest  in Leon about it; he laughed and asked whether we could imagine Jesus ever keeping anyone from His table. He also reminded her that the Camino began centuries before Christians separated into Catholics and protetestans and therefore all pilgrims are part of it.
And so it goes.

The new efforts seem addressed to the increasing abuse of albergues at the expense of legitimate pilgrims.  That anyone could think of the Camino as a "cheap holiday" is very sad, and that some people could promote it as such is appalling. If I hadn't read it with my own eyes I would not have believed it.

Regards,

Rosina
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